FRIDA KAHLO

Photographer/Artist Lori Peterson

Icon of Mexico. Artist.  Writer. Activist, Feminist. She believed in equality for all.

Marriages. Divorces. Affairs, Her life was as colorful as the skirts and headbands she wore. She endured many tragedies.

Polio as a child, Life-threatening injuries when the bus she was riding in crashed. Her body was broken. Multiple fractures. A body cast, A lifetime of surgeries. Thirty in all...

She was told she'd never walk again. She persevered. She taught herself to paint while recovering in the hospital. She painted 143 paintings. 55 of them are self-portraits.

."I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone because I am the person I know best."
Frida Kahlo

Frieda Kahlo married Mexican painter Diego Rivera. They had a love-hate relationship Diego Rivera loved her long dark hair. When he cheated on her she cut her hair  My favorite painting of hers is one in which she is sitting in a chair, dressed in a suit with very short hair. That painting makes me smile. It was the ultimate retaliation.

"I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality.”
-Frida Kahlo

We all do this when the stress of life gets to be overwhelming. We zone out. We live. inside our heads for a while. We imagine life the way we'd like it to be. Frida Kahlo painted her imaginings.

"Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?”
Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo is a positive role model for those of us with disabilities. 

I interpret the third quote as meaning You can be whatever you want to be.  You can do whatever want to do in your life. All you need is the drive and determination to achieve it. Nothing is impossible. All you have to do Is believe.

Frida Kahlo was a revolutionary. She fought for equality.  She was ahead of her time.

For more information on Frida Kahlo Visit:

https://www.fridakahlo.org/

https://www.museofridakahlo.org.mx/en/the-blue-house/